New Kazakh ambassador to US appointed

January 8 2013, 12:14

New Kazakh ambassador to US has been appointed, more than three months after position was vacated.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev finally announced a new ambassador to the United States, more than three months after former ambassador Erlan Idrissov left the post to become the country’s foreign minister.

Idrissov’s deputy foreign minister, Kairat Umarov, will be the new Kazakh envoy to Washington, Nazarbayev said in a declaration posted on presidential web site Akorda.kz.

He had served as deputy foreign minister since 2009.

Umarov, 50, has previously served as a counsellor-envoy to the U.S., and served for five years as Kazakhstan’s ambassador to New Delhi.